what a zoo

“What did you see on your trip to the zoo, Jasper?” asked grandma. Jasper's response: “Giraffes... and a monkey with a purple bum.”

On our latest trip to Portland, we ventured to the Oregon Zoo. So fun! Highlights for us included the lions, tigers, giraffes, orangutan (it was huuuuge!!!), sun bear and baby elephant... oh yes and of course the monkey with the purple bum (sorry for the lack of picture, you will just need to imagine). It was really cold that day, but I think we all enjoyed the animal adventures. :)

PDX breakfast and coffee

It's already been a week since our trip to Oregon, and I am missing it already. Some more pics to share with you today. The top one is one of my faves... Jasper patiently waiting for breakfast at the Doug Fir Lounge.   And of course you can't travel to Portland without having some amazing coffee stops... the bottom two are from Coava Coffee. As you can tell by the empty cup, it was really yummy.

i see the sign

I am such a sucker for old signage... maybe because old signs are harder to find here in Vancouver (hmmm... or maybe I am watching too much American Pickers on TV). I find myself snapping way too many pics of old signs (and street art) when we travel. We were in lovely Portland (one of my favourite cities!) this past long weekend, and that has ended up being the majority of our travel photos. Now if I can just find a cool old sign that would fit in our condo...

pleasant portland

Here are the short and sweet moments as well as a few fave things we visited over the long weekend in Portland, Oregon. It's one of my fave cities to visit... can't wait to head back!

We stayed at the Ace Hotel, a small boutique hotel smack in the middle of downtown. And yes, that is the shower there that you see in the middle of the room... how steamy! (sorry, couldn't resist that comment). This photo doesn't do it justice, it was a really cute stylish room. 
There I am in front of Albina Press Coffee Shop, where we got our morning fix of Stumptown coffee (the local fave)... I'm on the right waving... the person on the left is just some hipster guy getting his bike, who probably thought I was some crazy lady randomly waving.
Roger is an avid video gamer, so when we heard that there was a big classic arcade called Ground Kontrol, stock full of games and pinball machines from the 80s, we had to make a visit. Even cooler, is that after 5pm, the place turns into a bar, so you can enjoy the games with a nice bottle of beer. I got my ass kicked in every game we played... in my defense though... I was a bit too young to actually play some of these arcade games back in the day. (Roger just gave me a glare, when I made that point... heehee).
One of our fave places to stop when in Portland is Powell's Books... it's like a Chapters and Barnes & Nobles combined and on steroids... but waaaaaaaayyy better and waaaaaay bigger. It's huge and has every book (new and used), you can imagine. Swept up for hours there, we forgot to take pics, so instead I took pics of some of our loot. We scored some nice Edward Gorey books and I bought a copy of "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies" and am loving it so far!
Next stop was Voodoo Doughnut where we indulged in some sweet treats.... Roger got the one with Froot Loops on it (I think we almost went into diabetic shock over this one - it was that sweet) and I got the chocolate and peanut butter glazed doughnut with Rice Crispies... yummy.
And lastly, here is the photo booth pics we took while staying at the Ace. There is a machine in the lobby, so every time we visit Portland we make it a point to get an updated photo.... we forgot to adjust the stool before we put in our money this time, so were trying to guess the right height the photo would be.